A major new history of North and South Korea, from the late nineteenth century to the present day

Debunking what were accepted truths about the Second World War, the author argues provocatively that Hitler did not set out to cause the war as part of an evil master plan, but blundered into it partly by accident, aided by the shortcomings of others.

A compelling and vivid narrative history of one of the founding civilizations of the modern world, the Byzantine empire, evocatively told through the lives of its 92 emperors.

The Byzantine empire was one of the most successful states of the Middle Ages, ruling over a huge terrain straddling Europe and western Asia for an unrivalled eleven hundred years. Yet its history remains largely unfamiliar. This chronicle brings this majestic yet turbulent period to life through the lives of...

Maya peoples have long dominated southern Mesoamerica, an area stretching from the lowland coast of the Yucatán Peninsula to the highland mountains of southern Guatemala. While never a unified people, they gave rise to a great civilization with a dynamic set of beliefs and stories that varied between groups and retellings. To the Maya these have always been more than fireside tales: their myths formed the foundation of their culture, weaving together their ancestral and primordial pasts into...

A cartographic exposition of the 19th century's most dramatic and intriguing murders from the world's most crime-ridden cities and regions.